Читать книгу Bruce Lee Artist of Life. Inspiration and Insights from the World's Greatest Martial Artist онлайн

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The method for health promotion is again based on water, as flowing water never grows stale. The idea is not to overdevelop or to overexert but to normalize the function of the body.

Source: Bruce Lee’s handwritten essay on gung fu, untitled. Bruce Lee Papers.

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A MOMENT OF UNDERSTANDING

Gung fu is a special kind of skill, a fine art rather than just a physical exercise. It is a subtle art of matching the essence of the mind to that of the techniques in which it has to work. The principle of gung fu is not a thing that can be learned, like a science, by fact-finding and instruction in facts. It has to grow spontaneously, like a flower, in a mind free from emotions and desires. The core of this principle of gung fu is Tao—the spontaneity of the universe.

Burce Lee (right) and his only formal martial art instructor,Yip Man

After four years of hard training in the art of gung fu, I began to understand and felt the principle of gentleness— the art of neutralizing the effect of the opponent’s effort and minimizing the expenditure of one’s energy. All these must be done in calmness and without striving. It sounded simple, but in actual application it was difficult.